


Out of Time (Death Comes Calling)

by sperrywink



Category: DC's Legends of Tomorrow (TV), DCU
Genre: Bad Puns, Canon Dialogue, Canonical Character Death, Community: spook_me, Death, Gen, Grim Reapers, Princess Bride (1987) Quotes, Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-26
Updated: 2016-10-26
Packaged: 2018-08-19 02:38:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,062
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8186110
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sperrywink/pseuds/sperrywink
Summary: Len meets Death after the events of s1ep15: Destiny.





	

**Author's Note:**

> For 2016's spook_me challenge. Too many puns to be truly spooky, but there is a moment or two. :-) Inspired by both my chosen creature of Grim Reaper and one of my picture prompts.
> 
> Thanks to Moriavis for the beta.

Len wasn’t going to screw Mick over again, even if he had to knock him out cold to prevent it. The kiss from Sara was a nice bonus, but the real treat was watching the Time Master’s face as he said, “There are no strings on me,” and destroyed the Oculus. He might not believe in being a hero, but he did believe in being a partner, and he owed Mick one. Hell, for being a big part of what made Mick become Chronos, he owed Mick more than one, and taking out the bastards that did that to him was part of the payback.

Besides he had always believed in making his own destiny, and now at the end was no different. 

He expected the overwhelming pain as the time stream ripped and the explosion hit, but he wasn’t expecting any sensation after that, of course. He believed death was final.

So he was surprised to reenter consciousness in a desolate field. He slowly stood, patting himself down to see if he was all there. He felt both fine and corporeal. He took a better look around, noticing how bleak it looked. Everything was brown and grey, and there were dirty white crosses dotting the landscape. He twisted to see around him, noticing the dreary sky and wilted, dried-out grasslands and bare trees in the distance. As he came back around, there was a figure standing before him. 

He stopped instantly. His hand curled into an empty fist by his side, and he wished desperately for the comfort of his cold gun.

The figure was wearing a long inky black robe with a hood hiding their face, and had a staff with a skull on top.

Straightening, Len smirked to hide that his heart tripped a beat. “Well, aren’t you a cliché.”

The hood fell back, revealing an obscene skull instead of a face. Their smile was grotesque as they said, “Well, I know you appreciate the classics.”

Len was surprised enough to let out a short laugh. Death with a sense of humor. He could work with that. “Grim Reaper seems like a bit of a misnomer right now, although Cheery Reaper just doesn’t have the same ring.”

Deadpan, Death quipped back, “It does lack gravitas.”

Len chuckled, but let it die out, pun intended. Contemplating the figure standing motionless before him, he finally said, “So, you know I don’t believe in all this, right?”

“You don’t believe in death?” The figure sounded amused again.

Len waved a hand around. “Afterlife, heaven, hell, god. All the accoutrements of death. _Death_ I have no problem with.”

The figure’s other skeletal hand wrapped around the staff, and they leaned forward. “I don’t get that much, I admit. Most people do have a problem with me.” A low chuckle emanated from the figure. 

Len felt it reverberate in his chest, and the hair on the back of his neck stood up. He had a feeling he was outgunned, but never let it be said he went down without a fight. Or at least a pun. “Well, unless I made a _grave_ mistake, you seem a decent fellow. I hate to die.”

Death chuckled again. They said, “You seem a decent fellow, I hate to kill you,” and then Len would swear that Death winked at him.

In the blink of an eye, the landscape rippled and suddenly Death was inches from Len. Out of surprise more than fear, Len went to take a step back, but one gaunt hand of bones wrapped around his throat, holding him in place with superhuman strength. 

He gasped in a breath as he stared into the dark pools of abyss that made up the skull’s eyeholes. Fear finally slammed into him, his heart pounding in a way it hadn’t when he died at the Vanishing Point or when he woke up here. Suddenly Death was visceral and was staring him in the face. 

Literally.

Both his hands came up to scrape at the skeletal hand holding him by the neck, and his heart felt like it would explode out of his chest. He didn’t want his ‘real’ death to be in fear, but he couldn’t keep it at bay. It clawed at his mind like a feral beast.

Almost gently Death’s other hand stroked his cheek. They said, “Shush. Shush. Don’t worry. I was thrilled to hear you have no problem with Death. I have grander plans for you than a prosaic passing.”

And then pain greater than he had ever imagined ripped through him, worse than the Oculus explosion, but he couldn’t take his eyes off the eye sockets of the skull. Their depths seemed to swirl and galaxies expanded in them, consuming him.

Endless moments later-- or just an instant, both, neither, it didn’t matter-- Death released its grip. 

Len felt… vast and empty. He was no longer gasping for breath, and as he lowered his hands, he saw that they were now skeletal. He pushed up his sleeves, fascinated by the white bone he was. He tapped the bones of his fingers against his arm, hearing the sound that made. He wondered if he could still be considered corporeal, and then that thought too faded into inconsequence. He was the core of who he was, which was all that mattered. It did please him how much of that was his protective feelings for Lisa and Mick, since as Lewis and everyone else became nothing to him, they remained.

He looked up at Death, and stared again into their eye sockets. But all he felt now was kinship with the galaxies he saw within.

Death said, “You believe in what’s important.”

Len was still enough of himself to be confused and to cover it up the best way he knew how, but even now he could feel what made him human fading into the vastness of the universe. He asked, “And what could possibly be important to Death?”

Death chuckled, and Len’s bones rattled against each other. It felt like he was joining in the laughter this time. Death said, “Partners,” and held out his staff.

Len tilted his head, and considered. In the end it really wasn’t a choice. He reached out and grabbed the staff right above Death’s grip. If he had eternity, it didn’t get better than having Death watch his back.


End file.
